Patience rewarded

On three trips in a row to the Minneapolis City lakes, I was able to land a bass weighing more than 5 pounds. Last Thursday, I was hoping to make it four in a row.

The weather was beautiful as I departed from the landing on Lake Calhoun. Optimism was running high as I pulled up to my first spot at about 10 a.m. Just a week earlier, my son, Joe, and I each had landed bass weighing 5 pounds, 3 ounces from this spot.

This time? Nothing. I worked it for a while with a jig and plastic trailer but managed only one biteoff from either a muskie or northern pike. No bass.

So, I went to another spot that had produced in the past. I found some nice fish on the end of a small point and caught about four or five. The wind picked up and made it very hard to fish this spot. So, I decided to go back to my first spot and see if there was anything going.

There was. I decided to try something considered to be a big-fish bait — a Berkley Powerhawg. The bass liked this large offering and chomped down on it aggressively. I landed several nice fish off of this long point, but they were concentrated in one small area. I tried working other sections of this structure, but caught nothing.

I then went back to the small area again, but the fish went quiet. It was around 4 p.m. and I decided to make one more pass over this spot before heading in to shore. As I did so, I switched from the Powerhawg to my top go-to bait — a Berkley Ribbontail worm.

I pitched it to the spot and felt a light bite. Because of the earlier action, I instinctively reeled down and set the hook. The rod doubled over and the fish didn’t move for a second or two. Then, it slowly plodded away along the bottom. Big fish. I had only 8-pound test monofilament line, so I played the fish carefully. I got it up to the surface, let it thrash a bit, then lip-landed it.

I pulled out my son’s digital scale and weighed the fish — 5 pounds, 2 ounces. I had caught a 5-pound bass for the fourth trip in a row. It has been a fabulous summer on these lakes and I’m eager to see what the fall holds.

About Dave Hrbacek

Staff photographer and writer for The Catholic Spirit. Also, avid outdoors enthusiast with a passion for hunting, fishing and photography. Married to Julie and have four children, three boys and a girl.